Time flies when spent with children

Time flies when you spend it with children, whose innocence and hope that shine through their bright eyes inspire you and start this magnificent cycle of you inspiring them back and so on.

Ready with art kits and snack packs, the VIPs with Sheena and Roney got ready as the children from Bantay Bata Komunidad settled in the upstairs floor of the Center. The children formed lines to ensure an orderly distribution of the kits and for them to have ample space to work on the day’s activities. Each child received a kit containing a long envelope with colored paper, crayons, grade 1 pad paper, paste, pencil, and sharpener. We eventually learned that some if not most of the children, ranging from seven/eight to twelve years of age, had actually outgrown the need for the first grade pad paper.

After decorating their name tags with crayons and markers, they learned how to cut out a fish shape out of folded art paper and later on formed a dice/box out of cut-out paper. Some of the children actually cut through the dotted lines of the outlined dice and some even glued the wrong side of the flaps intended to stick the sides of the box together. The VIPs were kind ate’s and kuya’s helping the children fold for the origami or guiding how to cut out the dice.

The kits were then collected and we reminded them to come back on Wednesday for the tutorial session. Each child got a cupcake and juice pack as he headed on his way home.

In the arts and crafts session, it can be easy to get carried away and just do stuff for them but I kept reminding myself the rationale behind spending time with children. Having fun is auxiliary. What you want is that they leave having learned something you have imparted as someone older and/or wiser. So when we started cutting out the paper fish I tried to just pencil in the area where they should cut it so that they’ll remember having cut it themselves. The dice also required much help from the ates and kuyas. My inner ate (having two younger sisters myself) told me that teamwork really comes into play with me guiding the child where to put the paste and I do the sticking.
The sense of accomplishment they have after decorating their name tags, cutting out the paper fish, and forming the dice is priceless.
The dice I noticed served a dual purpose of something creative and something spiritual with the messages of Jesus and creation written on them as they colored.

Some of the children apparently really like having someone older to guide them. They were quite disciplined and were not as obnoxious as I remember some of my playmates were as a child. Bernadette, Elaine, Roselle, April, Angela, Jonard, Clarens, Caroline, Jovelyn, were really adorable. Bernadette actually hugged me which was a truly precious gift. She even wanted to give me her dice but I figured it was more vital that she have something to remember the day by.

I look forward to knowing the other children there in the days ahead. What’s sad is how many other older brothers and sisters they must have met before whom they never saw again.

One thing that we all should refrain from and learn to deal with is the heat due to improper ventilation of the upstairs floor. The children are apparently fine with it; they should not learn the concept of complaining from the ates and kuyas who are supposedly mentoring them. I noticed that when I was on the floor working with the children, I did not notice the sweating and heat so much. Like I said, time flies when you spend it with children. Apparently, you zone out the high temperature too.

If you are interested to learn more about UNICEF's VIP,
send an e-mail to kcarbon@unicef.org.
Or call (0632) 901-0154.